Update 27 October 2026

My excuses for the long delay since the previous update in September. This is due to a combination of  relatively few news-worthy stories and that I have been spending much times on helping my colleagues prepare for the January 2027 launch of Here Now Health (See here for the website (in Dutch)). Luckily, there are things happening in the Dutch healthcare market and in this update we cover news about nursing home capacity and three examples of M&A related activities:

• Major healthcare insurance company to reduce contracting for nursing home capacity by 5%. What are likely consequences for commercial operators?
• Mentaal Beter continues growth through acquisitions. Who will be next?
• Movement in healthcare IT with more acquisitions. What does this mean for the sector?
• Investments in Dutch startup focusing on healthcare checks. What is the concept?

Contracting volume for nursing home capacity to be reduced by 5%

Lately there has been an elevated level of discussion regarding moving complex elderly care to a home setting and the consequences for traditional nursing homes. In June we reported how VGZ (a major healthcare insurance company) reported seeing increasing vacancies in their regions. In September, we wrote about a report that seemed to indicate that capacity utilization has remained stable across the nursing home sector and that reduced capacity utilization at nursing home locations typically was caused by specific and individual issues.

VGZ has now drawn its own conclusions from the different reports and has decided to decrease its contracted volumes for traditional nursing home capacity by 5%. In contrast to what ActiZ (trade organization for traditional healthcare providers) says about the risks of reducing capacity, VGZ believes that less capacity is required due to clients staying longer at home and often only spending three to six months at the nursing home before passing away. VGZ believes that the combination of these two trends will structurally lead to lower demand for nursing home capacity.

VGZ highlights that the decision does not imply a reduction in spending on elderly care but rather a transfer of money to home care. It is also not their intention to force locations providing nursing home care to be closed, as they believe that the freed-up capacity can be used for other patient groups requiring complex care  (Huntington, Korsakov, elderly patients with addiction or aggression issues, etc.)

It is clear that the steps taken by VGZ should serve as a wake-up call for all types of nursing home care providers. Providers will need to think carefully about their real estate portfolios, and develop strategies on how to best use these and/or to dispose of properties that no longer are fit-for-purpose. Dealing with the complex groups suggested by VGZ will have its own challenges as these are relatively small groups requiring very specialized care. The optimal strategy moving forward will also be heavily influenced by decisions made regarding how elderly care will be financed.

Commercial providers of nursing home services might not be directly affected by the VGZ decision as their statement specifically mentions “intramural nursing home care” and all commercial providers are, technically speaking, providing home care financed by VPT. However, they are certainly feeling the overall reduction in demand and are probably busy developing strategies to increase the share of services they provide in the clients’ homes.

Mentaal Beter continues growth through acquisitions

Mentaal Beter (owned by PE-company Seven2 – Previously Apax France) has been growing through a lengthy list of acquisitions. In April we wrote about their acquisition of Phitaal. Recently it was announced that Mentaal Beter is acquiring OOG Psychologen, a provider located in the southern part of the Netherlands with two locations in Eindhoven and Helmond. An interesting aspect of the deal is that the seller is Musaersstichting, a non-profit provider of psychiatric care for children, youth, and adults. As a rule, non-profit organizations in the Netherlands are less willing to sell to commercial parties and prefer deals with other non-profit organizations. Typically deals with commercial providers are a “last-ditch” effort if other opportunities have not worked out. However, as no details are provided over the process it is unclear whether that is the case in this acquisition.

More consolidation in healthcare IT

The Dutch healthcare IT sector is dominated by one whale (Chipsoft) and furthermore consists of many small players typically focusing on a small niche in the market. There are, however, clear signs of ongoing consolidation. Two of the key consolidators are Main Capital and Topicus. Both of these two companies are essentially investors buying a wide range of software companies with healthcare being one of the sectors they focus on. Topicus is owned by Constellation Software, a Canadian company that owns a wide range of software companies across the world.

Topicus currently owns software companies focusing on primary care (billing solutions for GPs), software solutions for public healthcare, solutions for healthcare insurance companies, and solutions focusing on helping patients make better decisions and easier appointments. In 2024 Topicus acquired Steunwijzer, a company helping local authorities analyze the provisioning of healthcare in a specific region. The most recent acquisition by Topicus is Zorgweb. Zorgweb has 35 employees and focuses on helping patients make better decisions regarding insurance packages, contracting, providers, etc.

Blue Health Intelligence gets external investor

The business idea of Blue Health Intelligence is to provide individual healthcare checks in high street locations. The company currently has a location in the center of Amsterdam where a one-hour check-up can easily be booked via the Net. The check-up costs €299 and consists of 10 physical tests, a face-to-face meeting with a doctor and a personal plan based on the results of the test. One of the co-founders has successfully started Swapfiets, an innovative service providing a subscription service for bicycles, and therefore has a proven track-record in developing innovative services for private consumers. The company has recently received new financing of €3.4 million that is to be used for further expansion in the Dutch market and internationally. Blue Health hopes to open a location in Paris or Milan in 2028.

It will be interesting to see how this company develops. It is clear that the overall population is becoming more interested in health issues and want to be pro-active in taking care of themselves. Although an investment of €299 is not a hefty sum for a major part of the Dutch population, there is probably inherent resistance against paying for healthcare services directly.